I went to bed at 12.30am immediately after drinking a pint of water. Two hours later I was up and using the loo. After a few minutes, I returned to bed and relaxed with an intention to gain dream consciousness firmly in mind. I didn’t mind if I fell asleep and there was no perceived separation from the physical body. As my relaxation quickly progressed, a lapse in consciousness occurred. When I came to, there was a pulsating hiss in my head. It felt like my pineal gland was opening the doors to lucid dreaming, so to speak, and I recognised the potential to enter the state. I made no effort to take advantage of such opportunity, however, and the reason at the time might have been because I wished to face the challenge of becoming conscious in a dream. I became unconscious again and fell into a dream.

I met up with my friend Darragh and went to a beach to play some football. We have played football many times in real life, but, what is unusual about this situation is the beach environment. We have never gone to a beach together in real life and it would make sense to play football at the Centenary Park resort that he manages. Despite the dream cues, I remained mindlessly ignorant about the dream state I was in. Before I knew it, he was driving me home in a sports car (he does not own one). As we travelled through town (which looked more like Lisbon than London) I became anxious about his driving - an inner awareness in this particular situation that I have registered as a dream sign in my journal. Despite being presented with a common dream situation I still remained non-lucid. After arriving home (my in-laws’ - another dream sign) safely, I thought that perhaps my lack of confidence in Darragh’s driving skills were unwarranted. We were going to have roast dinner with the family and I sat at the table while Darragh went to the bathroom. When Darragh returned, we had to shift the table in order to accommodate him. It was awkward. Everyone was moving the table towards me and lifting it to the point where its edge was by my neck and it was trapping me against the staircase in the living room (that’s right, another sign - my in-laws eat in the kitchen in reality even if they have guests).

In another dream segment, me, my mother and Stacey were driven to a dock by Darragh. At first, we were exploring, but then, the situation changed and we were trying to get to a ferry that was moored at a considerable distance from the coast. The only way to reach the ferry was a pier walkway that stretched far enough but we were having trouble getting to it from alongshore. Bad weather was looming and my mother was concerned about going down some steps leading to a side of the pier that was threatened by lightening. We eventually found safer ground and I decided to look up out of curiosity. The sky was strangely divided by good and bad weather and a peculiar dark cloud formation that appeared pixelated in three dimensions caught my eye. I was amazed by this sight but only questioned my reality when I noticed the surreal way in which smoke from a row of chimneys alongshore and the pixelated clouds intermingled in the sky. “What am I doing here?” - the thought popped in my head. I was now way ahead of the others on the pier walkway and close to the ferry. Despite the distance between me and them, I could hear them loud and clear talking amongst themselves about caution.

I became lucid and started rubbing my hands together in order to remain in the dream world. I wanted to see where the dream plot would have led me so I entered the ferry with the intention to explore. I wanted the dream characters to accompany me and comment on whatever I found inside. Surprisingly, they did as I wished and did not disappear as usual (in my case) when the phase state is entered from a dream. Inside the ferry, the environment made me feel like I was in a computer game like Quake and the three simulations of people I know and love followed close behind. We used a lift to get to a lower level and no buttons needed to be pressed. There was a descent sensation which I thought anchored me to the lucid dream world.

The lower level looked no different but I found an intriguing inscription on a brick wall which conveyed deep philosophical feelings and strangely seemed to have more meaning that way than what it actually read. On closer inspection, it was difficult to read but part of the concept that was expressed included the words “life” and “dream”. My mother tried to read it but seemed as clueless as I was. Her attempts echoed in my head and I decided to proceed onwards. I rubbed my hands together one more time in order keep the lucid dream going. I was fully conscious whilst attempting to read the inscription but the message, or whatever it was behind it, was elusive and lost. If I were to retrieve whatever the inscription symbolised in full I think I’d have to look in the more abstract side of my mind. I felt that looking at letters wouldn’t do - especially when the language centres in my brain were largely inactive.

We walked along a corridor and found a restaurant full of people at the end. I thought about the possibility of sharing a dream with my mother so I asked her simulation what I should say to her that would remind her of having had this dream (if indeed such was the case). She asked me to repeat any number to her so I said “5-5-5” (the first thing that came into my lucid mind). While I repeated the number to her, I reminded myself that I was dreaming just in case I lost consciousness. I’m glad I did this, because, moments later, I caught myself sitting down at a reception area to wait for a table to dine with my familiars. I jolted up and began to pace up and down and feeling myself stomping on the floor to prevent falling asleep or fouling. It took me a few seconds to realise that there was no point in waiting for a table. Later, upon waking, I would ponder about this. The lucid state is not stable and must be maintained. Also, perhaps my wish to see where a dream plot would have led me came true. Theoretically, if I hadn’t become lucid, I might have non-lucidly found myself at this very restaurant.

A group of people entered the restaurant and my familiars started to socialise with them. Amidst the crowd, a young man was familiar to me but I couldn’t place him initially. Then, I recognised him to be a fellow lucid dreamer. Later, in wakefulness, I would realise that this recognition was based on false memory and that the man does not exist in waking life. I can only posit that my dreaming mind was taking charge again. Another possibility is that, because this oneironaut character partially looked like Jason (an acquaintance I’ve spoken to about lucid dreaming), it could be that the element of knowing him might have helped to reinforce a delusional state of false memory and reasoning. However, I did not recognise the dream character as being Jason. Another inconsistency is that, in reality, Jason only showed a partial interest in lucid dreams when we spoke about them and we only spoke about them once. In the lucid dream, the character was recognised to be an experienced oneironaut and someone with whom I had discussed altered states of consciousness several times. It seems to me now that simply wishing for an answer to the vague sense of familiarity led to the concoction of an apparent truth.

The man smiled and seemed pleased to see me there. We briefly discussed the possibility of sharing dreams and remembered that I was supposed to remind my mother of “5-5-5” in order to test the shared dreaming concept. I looked around the restaurant for my mother but she had disappeared. A voice from the crowd told me that she was in the “unauthorised area”, and, as I examined the restaurant, I found a guarded entrance to a massive metallic kitchen. I took this to be the “unauthorised area” and could see cooks milling about in there. I tried to go in but the bouncers blocked me and one of them told me that I wasn’t allowed in there. I told them I was trying to reach my mother. They just stared at me in silence. “Can I ring her at least?” - I asked while rubbing my palms together and feeling the warmth.

The black bouncer took me to a little round table with a massive grey telephone. Its buttons displayed fractions (which reminded me of bookmaker odds) instead of single digits. The bouncer dialled “5/2”, “5/8” and “5/10” and handed me the phone. “Three fives!” - I thought to myself. I heard my mother’s voice telling me that she had “crossed over” and would not wake up. My eyes welled up with grief even though I knew I was dreaming. I began to fear that somehow this lucid dream was reflecting real life events. My mother told me to make the most of my life and the bouncer took the phone. Involuntarily, I teleported outside the ferry and could feel tears streaming down my face as I stood on the pier and stared into the murky horizon between the blue sky and the calm sea. A fresh breeze caressed my face and made me feel better.

I thought that perhaps I was overreacting and had nothing to worry about as I ran back to the stationary ferry. After all, I was lucid dreaming and the chances were that the words “crossed over” might have been subconsciously tagged with a schema whereby my mother communicated with me from her afterlife. As I stepped onto the ferry to tell known characters about the situation, I noticed that I was wearing a grey suit and tie. It made me feel smart and ready to get to the bottom of where that scenario had come from by asking the people on the ferry. My familiars were nowhere to be seen, and, as I woke up, I was immediately struck by the intensity of my lucid experience and the vivid memory of the ordinary dream that preceded it.

Fortunately, my mother is okay but I never got round to asking her what she dreamt about - something that should have been done as soon as I woke up and while the memory of dreaming was still fresh in her mind. I also wonder if the words “unauthorised area” was my subconscious informing me that contacting my mother via shared dreaming or reaching someone else’s mind was either restricted at the time, or totally impossible. The latter can be concluded if we surmise that another’s mind is out-of-bounds on the premise that the individuated psyche has no authority elsewhere but its own domain.

"Empty cognizance of one taste, suffused with knowing, is your unmistaken nature, the uncontrived original state. when not altering what is, allow it to be as it is, and the awakened state is right now spontaneously present."

A group of people entered the restaurant and my familiars started to socialise with them. Amidst the crowd, a young man was familiar to me but I couldn’t place him initially. Then, I recognised him to be a fellow lucid dreamer. Later, in wakefulness, I would realise that this recognition was based on false memory and that the man does not exist in waking life. I can only posit that my dreaming mind was taking charge again. Another possibility is that, because this oneironaut character partially looked like Jason (an acquaintance I’ve spoken to about lucid dreaming), it could be that the element of knowing him might have helped to reinforce a delusional state of false memory and reasoning. However, I did not recognise the dream character as being Jason. Another inconsistency is that, in reality, Jason only showed a partial interest in lucid dreams when we spoke about them and we only spoke about them once. In the lucid dream, the character was recognised to be an experienced oneironaut and someone with whom I had discussed altered states of consciousness several times. It seems to me now that simply wishing for an answer to the vague sense of familiarity led to the concoction of an apparent truth.

The subconsciousness appears to plant tiny doubts and lies in the mind and leaves us to bridge the gap. What we come up with is a solution which at the time seems reasonable to us. This almost appears to be some kind of guard against lucidity, which leads me onto my second point about the possibility of mutual dreaming. I think perhaps the 'unauthorized area' arose due to you simply considering the fact that you could be sharing a dream with your mother. Maybe subconsciously you believe this to be an impossibility; personally i think that this is a more likely explanation than the mind trying to tell you the same thing (that could imply that the mind is aware of some kind of mechanism which allow mutual dreams to occur, hence contradicting the point in question). Thanks for sharing anyway!

tora, I never looked at it that way. I guess my doubts about mutual dreaming run deep. But then again, I cannot deny Michael Persinger's experiments which appear to evidence the quantum entanglement of minds. If his neuroscientific research is on the money, then sharing dreams is not so far-fetched. And yes, it seems plausible that an unconscious part of our minds is familiar with a mechanism that allows the self to experience that which is not entirely one's own creation. A lot of our dream content is probably our own but we must also take into consideration how the earth's magnetic field may influence our minds and possibly allow the random entanglement of biophotons in our brains. I guess that, when it comes to "telepathy" via dreaming or lucid dreaming, I must admit to myself that I'm on the fence pending further scientific analysis.

Thanks for your input, guys!

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"Empty cognizance of one taste, suffused with knowing, is your unmistaken nature, the uncontrived original state. when not altering what is, allow it to be as it is, and the awakened state is right now spontaneously present."

Very interesting dream, and a fun read. I have to give you props for staying with it after that phone call. I think most people would have come flying back to make an actual phone call! Good job not letting your emotions get the better of you. You seemed like in the back of your mind you knew the odds of something like that happening while in a lucid dream were probably nil.

I haven't seen any any papers on mutual dreaming (if you know of any, please post), which is interesting, because it seems like results, either positive or negative, would go a long way toward sorting out some of the questions discussed among dreamers. It seems to me that mutual dreaming is one area that would be the most fruitful in that regard. I mean, all the remote viewing stuff, the envelopes and number series' are interesting, but they seem narrow approaches to me.

The anectdotal evidence seems strong enough to warrant going down that path in the lab. It's been some time since I read the Seth books, but I remember the group that was surrounding Roberts at the time did some experimentation that leaned very positive that such a thing was possible.

The group would all record their dreams and then share any dreams in which other members of the group were present. If I remember one example correctly, three or four of the individuals each recorded a dream with the others involved. Here's what's interesting, even though there was no definitive correlation of the overall action other than the fact that the other members were present, there were dream elements that had an uncanny resemblance. One individual talked about the ground being covered with melting snow. Another recorded the ground as being muddy and thick, and another as the ground being made of a syrupy substance that was hard to walk in.

It seems to me that given enough such correlations beyond the margin of error (coincidence), you would have some pretty strong evidence that such a thing is possible. The other bonus is that this could be done with normal dreaming and no special skills or states necessary, just solid journaling.

Krippner's studies suggested that ESP is a possibility but weren't conclusive in establishing the existence of dream telepathy. Robert Waggoner touches upon shared dreaming in his Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self and that was interesting.

I know Freud considered the possibility of dream telepathy but he held that it could neither be proven nor disproven. His experiences of apparent dream telepathy were labelled by him as "purely subjective anticipations". He was great but we have come a long way from him since.

Now Jung had an interesting take in that he saw dream telepathy, if real, as a form of dream transference. Jung was also helpful but we have also come a long way from him in light of the weird world of quantum physics with its superpositions, entanglements and where Newtonian laws go straight out of the window as they are only applicable to our level of reality.

The way I see it is this. If dream telepathy (which could include mutual/shared dreaming) is real, then the following is very likely to be going on: all dreaming is our own, happening in our minds (subjective just like the perception of the real world when we are awake), but, sometimes, what is our own can also be somebody else's at the same time. Meaning, there is no transference as such, or at least not in the way that we classically think of it. If there are no photonic emissions going from one brain to another, then the earth's magnetic field allows for the quantum entanglement of individual brains.

A photon is a quantum particle. It can be both wave and particle in fact. The quantum level has its own logic. Things can exist in two places at once, in a superposition of states and measuring one particular property (momentum, position, polarisation) of something can lead to the fuzziness of the rest.

Entanglement is real. Einestein called it "spooky action at a distance" because it seemed to violate the speed limit in his theory of relativity in terms of transferring information. How could particles share the same properties and influence each other no matter how far apart after having come into contact.

We have also come a long way from Einestein. In his literature, Brian Cox explains that it is not about the transference of information by defying the speed limit. In terms that the layman can understand, he has an analogy. Imagine that our universe is one big gravitational well. Now imagine that this well is full of marbles. Remove one and a gap is created which potentially affects the position of the rest. The removal of one (measurement as an interaction and decoherence as an outcome in physics) may affect the state of another at a distance. This happens on tiny scales in our reality provided that quantum parties have come into contact at some point.

Of course, the analogy doesn't cover it all but for the sake of this discussion, let's move onto how this can play a role in dream telepathy. Back to the geomagnetic field, can you see how it links all 7 billion brains on the planet? Well, hypothetically speaking, imagine that everything on some level already became quantum entangled at the big bang...

Isn't it feasible that, according to shifts in the geomagnetic sphere, biophotons in individual brains may become entangled? Perhaps some seasons are more likely to yield the quantum entanglement of minds than others. Here's what a renowned neuroscientific researcher has to say on the matter (although his work has been criticised by some for lacking double-blindness in experimentation and he has lost much respect for dabbling in parapsychology): http://www.dailygrail.com/Mind-Mysteries/2011/5/Michael-Persinger-No-More-Secrets-Telepathy

What he proposes is indeed interesting, however, I am still on the fence and more inclined towards the view that more is needed in order for telepathy or the sharing of virtual worlds of the mind to take place. Scientists reckon the "Total Recall" or even "the Matrix" scenario is possible but further study on the brain and its connections is required alongside technology that would involve more than just a simple computer. The argument is that, although quantum entanglement is possible, it is confined to tiny scales and quantum states quickly decohere for them to play a radical role in consciousness and the perception of things. The cause of such "telepathic" experiences have to be classical if indeed they go beyond coincidence (in which case we are back to photonic emission).

Perhaps it is only really possible with the advent of new technology, like a Mindnet (mind Internet). I don't know. I think it is still worth experimenting with shared dreaming. Let me know what you think, guys!

This has turned out to be a "ferry of conundrums" indeed!

"Empty cognizance of one taste, suffused with knowing, is your unmistaken nature, the uncontrived original state. when not altering what is, allow it to be as it is, and the awakened state is right now spontaneously present."